Most flavours of Linux come with Python. We will be using Python 2.7
in this class. In general, any 2.7 version should be fine. Most in
class will have 2.7.10 if they install it this semester. If you have
an older version of Linux, you may have an older version of Python
like 2.7.2. This should be good enough. If you’re not sure, open a
terminal and type in:

$sudo apt-get install python

And you will be prompted to install or upgrade to the latest version
in the repository. apt-get is the default package management program
for Ubuntu/Debian/LinuxMint. If you are using a different flavour of
Linux, you’ll need to replace the apt-get bit with your package
management program. For example, if you’re using Fedora you’ll use
yum.

One of the wonders of modern programming is that writing sophisticated
programs is often quite easy by making use of work others have already
done. In Python, this comes in the form of third-party modules that
we will download and import for use by our own programs. For example,
if you want to open some images to crop and stretch and cut and paste
together, you don’t need to write a program that interprets a .jpg
file, as someone has already done that, you just have to import
their code. As such, you will now want to install all of the
wonderful modules written and maintained by outside sources that we
will be using. These DO NOT come with your Linux installation, so
you’ll need to open up a terminal and type in:

$sudo apt-get install python-pip

This gets the python package management program pip. We’ll need this
for just one of the packages, but you could probably install them all
using this. Next, type in: